A full view of a Mayan round mosaic shield. This artwork was part of the LACMA exhibit, “Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico”. This mosaic resonated with me- the colours, the details, the amount of work that must have went into affixing tiny chips of turquoise to wood with natural gum… and then lasted for almost a millenium and counting.

Seriously, this piece demonstrates how much beauty the First Nations were capable of.

A captured moment of a hummingbird on a tree limb at rest. Taken in the hills about Los Angeles.

Hummingbirds are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Setting aside their mythology, (such as the Aztec belief that they embody the souls of fallen warriors, and being honored by the Navajo alongside the wolves and mountain lions), they are simply beautiful and energetic creatures. The energetic aspect is part of the fun- they are fast, darting to and fro, rarely stopping for a moment. And their duels with each other, for food, mates, or apparently just because, adds to this frantic nature. All this means that photographers are challenged to find great shots of hummingbirds in the split seconds they can- which means it can be a game as well.